Subverting corporate responsibility

Take a look at the "corporate social responsibility" section on Wikipedia. Scroll through it for the word "tax."

At the time of writing (Wikipedia is changing all the time - and we encourage readers of this blog to go out and edit this entry now,) this was the most substantial section on tax:

"Corporations are keen to avoid interference in their business through taxation or regulations. By taking substantive voluntary steps, they can persuade governments and the wider public that they are taking issues such as health and safety, diversity or the environment seriously, and so avoid intervention. This also applies to firms seeking to justify eye-catching profits and high levels of boardroom pay."

The only other one worth mentioning is this one:

"Critics of CSR also point out that organizations pay taxes to government to ensure that society and the environment are not adversely affected by business activities."

And that's it. Take a look again at the first one. What??? This Wikipedia entry suggests that CSR is, or even should be, a good way to distract us from tax and regulation. Astonishing!

As you might imagine, we have our own views. Our short web section (which we will expand in due course) starts like this.

"Tax is the missing element in corporate responsibility debates. Corporate responsibility should start with tax compliance."

Read on. There's a revolutionary new approach to corporate responsibility out there. It's now time to grasp it.